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Fixing holes in sheet metal help!

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mp1472

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Ok so im getting close to starting the striping of the tub and the frame for paint .. question is what is the best way to fill small screw holes in the floor left by the po's dumb ass.

I probably have like 20 standard sized small screw holes to fill like the size of a bb ...

on the exterior im just replacing the front fenders with new ones however on the rear fenders i need to pull off the old beat up bushwhacker flares and either fill those holes or come up with some kind of trim to cover it .. doesnt look like even with cutting them for clearence that ill go high enough to cut out the screw holes.

Anyway any advice , links ect is much appreciated
 
I assume you mean other than welding? Best way is weld, grind smooth, bondo/primer/paint.

-- A
 
dremu said:
I assume you mean other than welding? Best way is weld, grind smooth, bondo/primer/paint.

-- A
Click to expand...

no i assumed welding i think my buddy has a mig welder smaller one .. Was hoping someone could link some info or post up what they did ect
 
If they are only the size of a bb just spot weld them and grind them down. Just squeeze the trigger on the mig till there is no more hole, you don't even have to know how to weld. You could also use a seam sealer or something like that if you don't want to deal with welding it
 
trying to do every thing right on this build i just have no welding experience or painting exp ... but that wont stop me !
 
Having no welding or painting experience didnt stop me, you learn as you go. Sheet metal can be a pain to learn to weld on, ask me how I know, I have some hideous looking welds on my floor, my first mig project, but if the holes are only as small as a bb you won't have to run a pretty bead anyway.

A word of advice for painting, and most other things for that matter, is don't rush the prep work
 
If you can back up the hole with copper it helps to prevent burn through and keeps the back of the weld flat.
 
Herculine or LIne X the interior, thatll fill in all the smallholes. That is what I did. When you remove all the interior pieces your left with a TON of lil screw holes.
 
you can pull a nail thru from the backside and weld it in, then grind it off.
 
If they're tiny holes, yep, zap it with the welder. Sheet metal is a PITA to work with; best to have gas-over-wirefeed as opposed to flux core. Small wire is important; keep the heat as high as you can to get good penetration, but not so high that you burn through.

I generally burn through =))

As mentioned, a block of copper or aluminum on the back side of the weld will keep the wire from sticking through, keeps the back side of the weld flat. Has to be fairly thick (like, I donno, 3/16" or 1/4") , or the heat from the weld will melt it. 1/8" might be enough for sheetmetal work, but it's not for thicker welding. Been there, burnt that =))

If the holes are ~1/8", this all may be overkill. Zap it with the welder, in a spiral from the outside in, and call it good.

Then grind it -- a flapdisc wheel on the grinder is good, maybe better than a grinding wheel proper. ... and as said, body work is prep, prep, prep, prep. Sand, sand, sand, float a bit of primer over, sand, sand, sand ... maybe bondo, let it dry, float a bit of primer, sand, sand, repeat =)) On my one nice truck I did all that, coupla weeks of afternoons out there sanding and filling and fiddling about before paint. On my 'wheeler, I filled in the worst holes and called it good.

Seam sealer is not so good for holes, as it doesn't sand well (it's flexible, meant to be!) and so leaves a bump. Fiberglass, POR15, or something else that dries HARD can be used if you don't want to weld for whatever reason.

One can write books on bodywork, and I am in no way an expert except in how NOT to do it :D ... read anything "Ryoken" has written here on the subject for positive ideas.

The nail idea is good; for larger holes I weld a washer in, a fender washer for the very large holes (like if the PO mounted a CB antenna to the side) and then a regular one inside that, and then fill the center hole with the welder.

HTH.

-- A
 
i'd leave them. after i patched my floor, i actually drilled several holes in the low spots. too small for water to splash up through, but big enough to drain standing water. the factory drain holes aren't in an ideal location, imo.
 
NorCalKid said:
Having no welding or painting experience didnt stop me, you learn as you go. Sheet metal can be a pain to learn to weld on, ask me how I know, I have some hideous looking welds on my floor, my first mig project,
Click to expand...

Yeah dont you see his Keystone can for filler? :D
 
hey that nail idea is pretty cool that would probably work out really well .. i did forget about a big hole ill need to fix ....for some reason the dumbass po moved the battery into the cab behind the passenger seat and hacked up a hole there .. what a pain.
 
if you have shielding gas and a welder, I'd just mig it shut. If you dont have any aluminum bar stock or copper bar available,, Ive used a penny. Its really thin copper, but it does the job just fine. ( its copper coated zinc).

If I have no backing, I like to just clean the area well, get a good ground somewhere on the body, and then run maybe a quarter in longer mig wire out the tip. Then tap the wire to the outer edge of the hole, before you hit the trigger. I find that its more consistent this way. Im no expert, so someone please correct me if Im wrong. Quick zap, then stop to let it cool. If you zap too much, it will burn a hole, and now you will have abigger hole!

If you zap without enough power, your weld will just sit on top of the metal like a ball of poop.

Finally, if you can reach it, I've been experimenting with hammer-finishing, so after the weld, I've been using a hammer and dolly to just kinda get stuff flush, then do a final grinding.
 
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